Morthland weighs in on Illinois pension crisis

The Illinois spring legislation session is over and still no changes were made to the state’s failing pension system.

Local Representative Rich Morthland weighed in on the issue today and says something has to happen soon.“In November, the decisions will be made by lame ducks and insulated incumbents. You want to have this happen before the election so that our feet are to the fire while we are working on it.”

Governor Quinn is feeling that urgency as well. He announced today that he will meet with legislative leaders as soon as next week. This is in an effort to protect the states bond rating from being downgraded by credit agencies. Illinois already has the worst credit rating of any state in the nation.

Governor Quinn says, “It is a race against the clock. I am going to make that clear to the legislative leaders next week that we must forge an agreement.”

Morthland says as long as the legislation stays at a stand still on this issues, other major issues are stagnant as well like education and road construction.